An Unexpected Discovery
by greymind
Summary: This story involves Bang and the interns. The final chapter is up. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

**4th Floor Nurse's Station SGH**

Izzy is standing with Meredith finishing up last night's on-call notes and this morning's coffee. "Did you see Cristina this morning?"

"No?" Meredith's half-listening as she looks through a chart.

"She was here at the crack of dawn."

"Stealing the good patients?"

"No. That's what's strange. I saw her in the locker room then she disappeared. I haven't seen her on the floors since then. Remember the look she had on her face the day that she came back to work from her surgery and Burke wanted to have a relationship?"

Meredith looks up now paying attention "Yes"

"Well she's got that look today and she's about to be late for rounds." Meredith turns her head and sees Bailey walking up followed by George and Alex.

"Hope that you all got a good night's sleep because we have a very busy day ahead of us and most of you are going to need to stay late. It's a very crowded board today, the attendings are going to be in surgery and you're going to have to help more on the floors. Where's Cristina?"

Silence.

Izzy speaks up "She's here at the hospital. I saw her earlier."

Cristina walks up behind Izzy. "Dr. Yang, glad that you could join us this morning. I hope we didn't interfere with anything by getting you here this early."

Cristina apologizes staring at the floor "Sorry, it won't happen again"

Bailey looks at Cristina annoyed. "Better not!" and walks off.

The interns are following Bailey down the corridor. Meredith is eyeing up Cristina to see if Izzy was right.

"Izzy said you've been here for hours, why were you late?"

Cristina begins to speak "Burke…never mind" Cristina changes her mind and starts walking a little bit faster to catch up to Bailey.

Cristina catches up to Dr. Bailey walking ahead of the other interns "Uh Dr. Bailey, can I be in the Pit today?"

Bailey slows down, staring at Cristina with surprise.

"What? Why what's wrong? First you're late now you're asking to go to the Pit.""

"Nothing"

"Nobody ever volunteers to go to the Pit."

"Please?"

Now Bailey was concerned. This was definitely not Cristina. Cristina hardly ever asked for anything, definitely did not look for assignments that were routine and definitely did not throw around the word "please".

"What are you hiding from? Better question…who are you hiding from…you and Dr. Burke…"

"No, it's nothing like that" Cristina tried her best to brush it off like a normal request but nothing about how she felt today was normal. She did not want to explain herself to Dr. Bailey and she wanted to be in the Pit so she didn't have to spend the day listening to her friends ask her what was wrong and, worse, explaining to them what was wrong.

Bailey stares suspiciously at Cristina as the other interns walk up.

"Like I said today is going to be a busy day…lots of surgeries…try not to kill anybody. Karev you're with me, Grey you're with Burke" Bailey pauses looking at Cristina "Yang the Pit, Izzy Addison Shepherd, O'Malley Shepherd. Go and stay out of trouble!"

George gloats as he walks past Cristina "I'm going to open a brain today. Awesome!"

"Too bad Yang. Maybe you can be a real surgeon tomorrow." Alex grinned as he walked away.

Cristina gives a halfhearted "Yeah" as they walk away. Inside she felt some relief for the first time since last night.

Izzy and Meredith are just standing silent with Cristina when Bailey barks at them "Move it!"

Bailey stares suspiciously at Cristina who quickly averts her eyes and walks towards the Pit.


	2. Chapter 2

**Later that afternoon in the Pit**

Meredith has been looking around for Cristina and finally finds her at the nurse's station with her nose in a book "Hey"

"Hey"

"We missed you at lunch." Meredith knew something was wrong and she was fishing for answers from her friend.

"Oh they were backed up down here so I was trying to help out with sutures."

Meredith stares in disbelief "Seriously?"

"Seriously" Cristina pretends to go back to reading her book.

With that, Meredith pulls a shocked Cristina off the chair "Mer.."

She continues to pull her friend through the exit doors to the ambulance bay. "Okay that's it! Tell me what is going on?"

"Noth…"

"DON'T SAY NOTHING! You hate the pit and you love surgery and you definitely love lunch so what happened today and what are you avoiding?"

Cristina surrenders and leans against the wall "I think Burke is going to propose."

"Propose what?"

Cristina gives Meredith a look not wanting to say the M word.

Meredith's jaw drops "Ohhhhh. OHHHHHH!"

"Exactly"

Meredith begins to fire off questions "What are you going to do? How do you know? When did it happen? Are you going to say yes?"

"Are you done?" This is exactly why Cristina didn't want to talk to anyone. Questions. So many questions and she didn't have any answers.

"Right, go ahead!" Meredith is now leaning on the wall next to Cristina both staring straight ahead."

"Last night Burke was in the shower and I was looking for one of his shirts to wear to bed."

Meredith interrupts "Why don't you wear your own pajamas?"

"Because it irritates him when I wear his freshly cleaned shirt to bed and that usually leads to hot sex."

"That's weird"

"You asked. Like I was saying, I was looking through his drawer for a shirt and I found a ring box."

"What does it look like?"

"A ring."

"Cristina!"

"I don't know. I panicked, shut the box and went to bed before he came out of the shower. What am I going to do?" For the first time Cristina was looking at Meredith and Meredith could truly see how confused she was.

So in an attempt to be rationale Meredith says "You could say yes."

"Right"

"You could say no"

Cristina shakes her head "Thanks I hadn't realized my options."

"Sorry. So you didn't even try it on?" Meredith was really curious about the ring but she was talking to Cristina and Cristina wouldn't care about how big the ring was.

"No. Why would I try it on? I want it to go away. This is crazy. It's all I can think about. He's done it. He's finally driven me insane. I mean what is he thinking!" Cristina is now squatting against the wall with her elbows on her knees.

Meredith persists "Have you two talked about marriage?"

"Yeah, in the I don't want to talk about it kinda way. I knew he was trouble from the beginning. Relationships are such bad ideas. I'm starving!"

"You're so screwed."

Cristina looks up at her "Don't I know it. You could have at least brought me a sandwich."

**Later that night at Joe's**

Meredith and Cristina are sitting at the bar with George and Izzy who now know about the marriage dilemma.

George is trying out Cristina's married name "Mrs. Preston Burke. Dr. Cristina Burke."

Izzy chimes in with "Nah, Dr. Cristina Yang-Burke"

Cristina glares at George and Izzy "The two of you need to stop right now or I'm going to lose it."

"Okay so I've been thinking about this situation and it is not necessarily a bad thing." Cristina looks at Meredith waiting to hear why this is not a bad thing.

"Really? How much tequila have you had exactly?"

"Listen. You love him. He loves you. You already live with him. You gave up your apartment. You almost had a baby."

"I was pregnant. We were not having a baby."

Meredith rolls her eyes "Whatever! What would be so bad about marrying him? You are already in a committed relationship. You act married."

Cristina stubbornly snaps back "We do not act married."

George chimes in "You fight like you're married" and quickly goes back to drinking his beer.

Izzy looks at Cristina with a silly grin "Your babies would be beautiful."

Cristina leans back with both hands on the bar "Ok, hold it! Babies? We're not even married."

"Look, we've got to go it's 1:00am. We're going to feel like crap tomorrow."

A tired Cristina grabs her coat and walks out "I already feel like crap!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Next Day – Burke & Yang's Apartment**

Burke's putting the last of the breakfast dishes in the dishwasher "You're going to be late. You're moving awfully slow today. It's rough going out on a school night. You know you're not as young as you used to be."

"Don't worry, dad, I'll make it."

Burke smiles and shakes his head. He leans over to give Cristina a kiss "Bailey's going to have you cleaning up vomit if you're late again."

"Very romantic. Get out of here" She pretends to be busy looking for something and he takes one more glance at her as he walks out the door.

As soon as he leaves Cristina goes back into the bedroom. She pulls open Burke's drawer and reaches in to grab the ring box. Slowly she opens it and is amazed by what's inside. It's beautiful, a little bigger than she'd imagined. When had she imagined about the ring? She was excited if not terrified that he loved her enough to ask her to marry him. After all it was every girl's dream even hers if she allowed herself to admit it. She did love him but wasn't sure she was ready. The truth was she hadn't ever admitted being ready for any part of their relationship. Now she was ready to at least try on the ring and see how it looked. What harm was there in that? It didn't mean that she would say yes. Hmmm not bad but the stone is a bit big. Maybe not for a doctor's wife. Burke's wife.

Lost in her own thoughts she barely hears the key in the door. Panic washes over her and she slams the drawer shut. Immediately, she feels intense pain in her hand. She slips into the bathroom and hears Burke's voice telling her that he forgot something and for the hundredth time not to be late. Standing in the bathroom, she looks down at her fingers which are already changing colors and throbbing. "This is so bad."

**Morning Rounds At SGH**

The interns are rounding with Dr. Burke and Dr. Bailey and are in the last patient's room when Cristina walks in. Her coat is strategically leaning to one side to cover up her injured fingers. George is presenting the case.

Burke glances over at Cristina as she walks into the patient's room. Bailey was giving Cristina a death glare. She was almost ready when he left this morning, he couldn't imagine what could've happened that she was so late and why she looked so out of sorts. "Excellent presentation O'Malley you'll be assisting me today. You're late Dr. Yang."

"I apologize" Cristina says sheepishly.

The group is barely out of the patient's room when a livid Bailey yells at Cristina "YANG come with me". The other interns and Burke looked at her walk down the hall with Bailey knowing she was in trouble. It was one thing to be late once in awhile but two days in a row was unheard of. Burke tried to casually walk away acting as if he wasn't worried that she was late again and was about to get reamed out by the Nazi.

"Dr. Bailey I'm sorry I…"

Bailey stops her mid-sentence "Don't be sorry, stop being late." Bailey pauses "Cristina whatever is going on. Take care of it. Get done with it. I do not expect anymore problems out of you this week, this month. Today you will be the lab fairy – delivering good news, bad news, specimens whatever."

"Yes Dr. Bailey"

''And if you are late again you will be cleaning up vomit and giving enemas for a month and I think you know that none of that happens inside of an OR. Am I clear?"

"Yes, sor…Thank You Dr. Bailey."

"Go away and straighten up your coat! Coming into work late…looking all sloppy. I don't know what's wrong with interns…not ready to be doctors…I don't know what they're teaching at Stanford" Bailey walks away mumbling.

Cristina finds Meredith and Izzy still in the hallway and directs them to a nearby on-call room.

"Uh, I have a problem"

"No kidding"

"No not Bailey. I tried on the ring and now I can't get it off" Cristina she pulls her hand out from under her sleeve revealing her two swollen fingers including her ring finger.

Meredith reacts first "Oh that's bad"

"Really bad! Nice rock!" Izzy is smiling.

"FOCUS! What am I going to do? Burke's going to be upset, Bailey's already upset and I still don't know what I'm going to say."

Izzy and Meredith's pagers start going off.

Cristina starts to panic "No you can't leave me."

" We'll be back. Just try to relax. And get some ice!" Cristina watches her two friends leave the on-call room.


	4. Chapter 4

**4th Floor Nurses Station**

Burke sees Cristina standing by herself reviewing a chart at the nurse's station and walks over. He doesn't notice the ice pack she's holding on her hand.

"Are you okay?"

Cristina gets nervous when he walks up and drops her ice pack in the trash "Yes". She doesn't even look up from the chart.

"What happened this morning?"

Cristina read through her chart ignoring him in spite of hearing the concern in his voice. She wasn't used to being this Cristina with him anymore. She had been showing a softer side lately more than the guarded side. She knew that this was the side that drove him insane but she needed distance between them right now and this was the only way she knew how to get it.

"Okay, how'd it go with Bailey?" He refused to let her shut him out completely. He recognized this Cristina and, although it was not his favorite side of her, he was no longer afraid of the walls that this Cristina put up.

"Anymore problems and I'll be banished from the OR to the land of vomit and enemas for a month."

Burke tried to bring a little levity to the situation "You hate vomit."

"Well I'm not too fond of enemas either!"

She looked at him and he saw the smallest glimpse of a smile and he knew that he had punctured one of those walls. He was going to take this opportunity to push her a little bit further.

"Cristina, are you freaking out because we're going to dinner with my friends tonight?"

"I'm not freaking out."

Burke grins "You're definitely freaking out."

Two nurses walk up to the desk and Cristina goes back to reviewing the chart in front of her hoping Burke would just go away.

"Walk with me" Cristina sighs not even looking at Burke.

He repeats himself but this time it is more of a demand than a request "Walk with me"

As they walked into the lounge, Burke's voice is starting to give away his frustration "So are you going to tell me what's been happening the past two days or are we going to continue to play this game?"

"I'm not playing any game."

"No? The other night you were fine then suddenly stopped talking and went to bed while I was in the shower. Last night you were out until 2:00 in the morning when you knew you had to come to work this morning. So you tell me what's going on?"

Burke touches her injured hand and she pulls away. He gives her an odd look not understanding what is going on with her or why she rebuffed his touch. Her eyes were filled with tears and it killed him that he didn't know why. That she wouldn't let him in. Wouldn't she let him help her.

She starts to walk away and stammers "I've got to go". Cristina could feel the tears burning in her eyes and didn't know if it was the pain in her hand or in her heart. She saw the hurt expression on his face when she pulled away but knew this was not the time for him to find out about the ring and once he saw it they'd definitely have to have the talk and she wasn't ready for that.

"Cristina!"


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

**In the Intern Clubhouse**

Alex and George walk up to Cristina, Izzy and Meredith sitting on hospital beds. Cristina is sitting holding her head with her hands. "What's going on? Is that an engagement ring?"

"No!" Cristina doesn't even raise her head to look up as she sits with her head against her knees on the bed.

Quickly Izzy updates the guys "Cristina thinks Burke's going to propose. She found the engagement ring, tried it on and now can't get it off."

Alex chuckles "Serves you right Yang. That's what happens when ovaries snoop!"

George innocently asks "How did that happen?" Izzy elbows George and Meredith looks at him like she can't believe he just asked that.

For the first time, Cristina lifts her head up and jumps off of the gurney "It doesn't matter. What matters is how it's getting off of my finger and back into its box!"

"It was just a question. Can't a guy ask a question?" George as usual doesn't realize the problem.

Cristina is losing her patience "Not a stupid one."

Alex chimes in "Was that a stupid guy or a stupid question?"

Cristina is leaning against the wall eyes closed holding her hand up "Remember me...over here with the swollen unengaged finger."

Alex puts in his two cents "Too bad Yang…you're screwed!"

"Thanks for the help Evil Spawn. Don't you have a patient to kill?"

Alex has a big grin on his face "Nah I'd rather watch you suffer, Wifey"

Izzy's had enough of their banter and is hungry for details "So are you going to say yes?"

"How can I answer when there was not even a question?" Cristina is eerily calm now.

Meredith is looking at Cristina's finger again "She's in denial"

Alex offers the practical solution "We could just cut the ring off."

"No!" they all say in unison

"Well if you're not going to say yes what does it matter. He can't return it anyway. I'm out of here I've got work to do. Transplant surgery with the Chief" Alex scurries down the hall.

"But if you are going to say yes you could just leave it on and show it to him. You could propose to him."

Cristina is panicking "You are not helping Izzy. Think! There has to be a way. I am running out of time!"

"Surgery Mrs. Burke?" George has a silly grin on his face.

Cristina hops off of the gurney "George you're brilliant! We could drain my finger."

"That's sooooo not a good idea."

Cristina is now pacing "Of course it is, Mer. We'll drain the fluid above the knuckle then the ring will come off."

Meredith is leaning against the vending machine looking at Cristina like she's lost it "That's great but what if we hit a nerve. None of us have done that before. "

"I have!" Cristina blurts out.

"Well, too bad you don't have three hands so you could do your own procedure. You should just tell Burke."

"Izzy, Nobody' is telling Burke." Cristina glares at George "We just need someone else to help us who will stay quiet."

"Callie?" George suggests shyly.

"Seriously? She hates us"

"Right. Bailey?" Meredith asks.

Cristina sighs loudly "Bailey told me I can't have any more problems this week or it's a month of enemas"

"Well, this definitely counts as a problem."


	6. Chapter 6

**4th Floor Doctor's Lounge**

Cristina and Meredith are standing outside the door to the doctor's lounge where Dr. Bailey is writing notes.

"Meredith I am not sure this is the best idea" Cristina starts to walk away.

Meredith quickly grabs her friend's arm and points her bck toward the door "Unless you're going to tell Burke the truth, this is the only way." Cristina wrinkles up her forehead and takes a deep breath before the two walk through the door.

Bailey looks up then goes back to her notes. "What are you two doing in here? I know I'm not the only one with any work to do."

Cristina is struggling to get her words out "Of course not. Uhh. Dr. Bailey I uh"

Bailey is clearly frustrated "Spit it out Yang. I've got work to do and am running out of patience. What is wrong with you this week? You are acting like…"

Cristina closes her eyes, breathes and then holds out her hand for Bailey to see.

"Congratulations but that finger looks nasty." Bailey gently grabs Cristina's hand to take a closer look at the damage.

Meredith helps Cristina out with the truth "They're not engaged"

"Then why in the world are you wearing an engagement ring?" Bailey looks up as she begins to realize the problem.

"Well, I…" Cristina's face is getting flushed.

Bailey lets go of Cristina's hand and leans back in her chair chuckling "Oh I get it. You were snooping through the man's things, found this ring and tried it on."

Cristina and Meredith take a seat at the table "Yes. That's why I was late this morning. Burke left then came back when I had the ring on and I ended up slamming my hand in the drawer."

"Now it's swollen and you can't get the ring off. Is this why you've been acting crazy the past two days?" Bailey's voice is getting louder.

"This is so humiliating."

"And you won't tell Burke because you're not supposed to know about this ring"

"Yes"

"Are you going to say yes?"

"No idea."

"You've gotten yourself into quite the mess Dr. Yang." Bailey's looking at the hand again.

Meredith decides to cut to the chase "Can you drain it?"

"Sure can but it's going to hurt a lot. You sure you want to do this. It'd be easier just to say yes."

"Yes, I'm sure" Cristina frowns "Dr. Bailey about the month of enemas?"

"I think you're being tortured enough. Let's see what we can do with that finger."

**4th Floor Seattle Grace Hospital**

O'Malley and Burke are leaving Mr.Roberts' room.

"O'Malley schedule Mr. Roberts' procedure for this evening with Dr. Carson."

"You're not operating on Mr. Roberts?"

"No, Cristina and I have plans with a buddy of mine and his girlfriend. He's actually going to propose to her during dinner. You can scrub in with Dr. Carson it won't be a problem."

George is intrigued "Well that's a coincidence. Your buddy's getting engaged?"

"Yeah I've been holding on to the ring for him and he's going to surprise her tonight. He thought that it would be more unexpected this way. Cristina and I are his decoys. "

"Decoys…oh that's good cause Cristina thinks…" George realizes that he has said too much.

Burke is taken off guard by George's statement and the smile leaves his face "What?"

George looks like a deer caught in the headlights and starts repeating "Nothing. Cristina just thinks that…more people should have surgeries."

"O'Malley you are a terrible liar? What's going on? What does Cristina think?"

Burke pauses realizing what has happened

"She found the ring didn't she? She thinks I'm going to ask her to marry me. That's why she's been acting crazy." Burke shakes his head and starts to chuckle.

"Cristina's going to kill me" George plops himself in the closest wheelchair.

Burke stares at George "Probably, but it's too late now so spill it!"


	7. Chapter 7

**The Pit – empty exam room**

Meredith and Cristina are in the room waiting for Bailey. Cristina is anxiously sitting on the bed staring out the window and Meredith is standing against the wall in front of Cristina staring at the ring.

Cristina notices that Meredith is staring at the ring "Stop looking at it!"

"I can't help it, it's a really big ring."

"Yeah, too big! I would've expected something smaller, more traditional from Burke." Cristina lies back on the bed. "I should have eaten lunch I'm starving."

Meredith ignores Cristina's complaining "Ya know there's really no such thing as a ring that's too big. You have to figure out what you're going to say to him when he proposes."

"I know"

"Well"

Cristina sits back up with her legs off the side of the bed towards the window "I can't say yes"

Meredith sits on the bed next to her "Why not?"

Cristina looks at her "I'm not ready to be a wife"

"Good point" both stare back out the window.

"What if I say no?"

"He'll be hurt but you can't say yes if you're not ready."

"Right. Maybe he'll change his mind."

"Any idea how many relationships survive an initial no to the marriage proposal?"

"Who knows? I don't know why he would think getting married now is a good idea in the first place?"

Bailey walks in and Meredith jumps off of the bed. "Don't be stupid Cristina. He thinks it's a good idea because he's in love with you and doesn't want anybody else. And if you didn't feel the same way about him you wouldn't be so scared right now. Is your finger numb yet?"

"Yeah"

"Okay, let's get started. You're not going to be able to do any procedures for a couple of days. Once it's drained it will swell again today and then be better tomorrow. Here we go, now you're going to feel some pressure." Cristina winces and watches as the fluid comes out thinking about how nice the ring is.

Meredith decides to ask Bailey about rejected proposals "Dr. Bailey, do you think men ask a second time if their girlfriend turns down the first proposal?" Cristina looks up at Meredith annoyed.

"Mine asked three times before I said yes so yeah the good ones will ask again." Meredith and Cristina smile.

Bailey continues to look at Cristina's hand "Alright, I think that this actually might work"

Burke walks in behind Cristina "What do we have here?" Cristina straightens up, jaw dropped, eyes wide and starts to turn around.

Quickly Bailey interjects "YANG THERE IS A NEEDLE IN YOUR FINGER."

Meredith tries to distract Burke from Cristina "What brings you down to the Pit Dr. Burke?"

"Last time I checked Dr. Grey I worked here."

"George is so dead" Cristina slouches and closes her eyes

"Cristina sit still or your fingers are going to stay numb."

Burke stands behind Cristina looking over her shoulder "You really did a job on those fingers of yours. Dr. Bailey I can take over from here. Addison needs a consult on the 12y.o. – her parents are waiting for you."

"You okay with that Cristina?" Bailey's looking at Cristina. "I can finish if you'd like and we can have Dr. Burke wait outside. As a patient, you are entitled to your privacy." Burke smiles at Bailey who is very serious. Cristina puts her hand on her forehead before answering.

"Yeah, that's okay. Thank you…for your help."

Burke walks over and takes the needle from Bailey who starts getting up "Grey you come with me. Cristina you can go home when you're done here. Make sure you put ice on your finger to help with the swelling." Bailey and Meredith leave the room and there is silence for several minutes. Neither Burke nor Cristina wanting to speak first, both looking down at Cristina's damaged hand.

"So what do you have to say for yourself." Burke briefly looks up at her face and then returns his attention to what he is doing.

"Nothing" Cristina continues to look down watching the movement of Burke's hands as he holds the needle.

Burke raises his eyebrows but he is somehow not surprised by her comment. He starts to smile amazed at her stubbornness.

"So I'm standing here draining fluid out of your finger that has an engagement ring on it and you've got nothing to say"

"Look I…"

"Yes" He was enjoying that this was difficult for her.

"I wasn't snooping" It was all she could do to get her words out while she looked at the ring.

Burke looks at her over the rim of his glasses "Uhhuh"

Cristina tries again "I was looking for something."

"Uhhuh"

"Something else and I came across the box with the ring"

Burke continues working on her finger "So this is why you've been freaking out?"

"No." Burke raises an eyebrow and Cristina pauses "Yes"

Burke stares at her.

Finally she looks up at him "We've never really even talked about marriage and suddenly there's a ring, of course I'm freaking out."

"Well let's talk about it now. The ring is already on your finger. Now seems like a good time." Burke was determined to take advantage of this opportunity.

Cristina is clearly struggling to find her words and she cannot fidget given the situation with the needle. She never understood how he remained so calm when they argued. It reminded her of the time that they argued about religion and he just stood there while she ranted eventually walking calmly away. "Fine."

"Well talk."

Burke's statement surprised Cristina "What about you? Don't **you** have anything to say?"

"I love you."

Cristina couldn't believe that was all he had the nerve to say "Besides that?"

Burke remained calm and steady "I'd like to hear what you have to say. You already found the ring so you know what I want."

Cristina looks at him with big eyes not sure what to do or say next. This look did not go unnoticed by Preston Burke "Just be honest. It'll be okay."

Cristina takes a deep breath and looked at him with pleading eyes. "I am not ready to get married. I love you and I want to have a life with you but I am not ready to be a wife."

Burke looks at her for a moment and simply replies "Okay"

"That's it. Okay. That's all you have to say." She could not believe his reaction. She was disappointed in his reaction. Why was she disappointed? How could he want to marry her one minute and then not even care the next?

"Yup." Burke's standing there "I think we've gotten enough of the fluid out. So at dinner tonight, John is going to propose to his girlfriend. He wanted to surprise her and thought she'd never expect it at dinner with friends."

Burke was silent as he pulls out the needle and cleans off Cristina's finger.

"That's clever." Cristina is trying to match Burke's nonchalance and pauses looking at her hand when she realizes what's going on "This is John's girlfriend's ring isn't it?" A grin creeps onto Burke's face.

"You tricked me!" She couldn't believe it. He totally played her.

"I didn't trick you. O'Malley told me what happened and I used it as an opportunity to have a conversation about marriage when you weren't able to run away."

"This is so embarrassing. You were never going to ask me to marry you. You were just torturing me. What if I had said yes?"

"Then I'd have been even happier than I already am."

She was actually speechless. They smiled each lost in the others eyes.

Burke cautiously asks "So maybe someday"

Just as Burke's question had been filled with caution, Cristina's response was filled with certainty "Definitely." At that moment they realized that they had just taken another step together.

"Let's see if we can get this ring off now." He gently pulled the ring off her finger careful not to hurt her. When it was off she wrapped both her arms around his neck and gave him a long passionate kiss and whispered in his ear "Thank you."


End file.
